State drops charges against two hate group suspects

Charges were dropped Monday morning against two people who were accused of participating in paramilitary activity with an alleged white supremacist group.

Last year, several people were arrested in Osceola County and accused of plotting attacks as part of the group American Front. Investigators called the American Front a domestic terrorist group and said it was led by Marcus Faella and his wife Patricia.

Patricia Faella and another suspect in the case, Dylan Rettenmaier, no longer face charges in the case after Monday’s hearing.

A trial was set to begin for the two.

A pre-trial hearing for Marcus Faella is set for April 23 and the trial is scheduled for May 6.

The state is not pursuing charges against several other people who were arrested last year in the case. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Dustin Perry, Verlin Lewis, Mark McGowan, Paul Jackson, Richard Stockdale, Diane Stephens, Jennifer McGowan, John Wyczlinski.

State Attorney Jeff Ashton said the decision was from one of his assistants and had no further explanation.

"The very fact that the state was prosecuting this and not the federal government suggests to me that it was not a strong case from the beginning," said defense attorney Richard Hornsby.

Hornsby said if the evidence of real paramilitary training for the purpose of committing violence existed, there likely would have been a trial.

"And for them to whole-handedly dismiss it on the day of trial, and not just a new motion or something like that, suggests that the prosecutor just didn't have enough confidence in the evidence that she had supporting an actual criminal act," said Hornsby.

Luke Leger and Kent Ryan McLellan pleaded no contest to paramilitary training and both received four years of probation. Christopher Brooks pleaded guilty to the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and received three years in prison.

The Faellas live in a desolate area near the Brevard and Osceola county line, where the nearest paved road is almost 5 miles away.

Marcus Faella said he wanted to make his property into an Aryan compound where they could live when the United States government failed, according to an arrest affidavit, because he sees himself as a “protector” of the white race.

Agents paid an undercover informant to make secret audio and video recordings, showing that several members had American Front and Nazi tattoos. Evidence of them training with AK-47's was also collected.

The suspects in the case were charged with anti-American paramilitary training last May.

The Anti-Defamation League has gone on record accusing the American Front of being a dangerous, terrorist organization.

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